Making carbon black



June 21, 1938. s. A. WISDOM MAKING CARBON BLACK Filed Dec. 14, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet I l yen/or S/uarf fl. Madam F/ca; 2

Patented June 21, 1938 umri-zo .s'rATas PATEN ry-orr cn MAKING cannon BLACK Stuart A. Wisdom, Shawlnigan Falls, Quebec, Canada, assignor to Canadian Electro Products Company, Limited,-Montreal, Quebec, Canada Applicatlonllecember 14, 1931, Serial No. 581,039 In Canada August 13, 1923 a China (01. 134-60) may be cracked as aforesaid). The primary object. of the invention is to 10 produce carbon black having a very low content of ash or gritty matter and a It will be understood the present invention refls hiate to production of carbon black from any gas or gas mixture capable of being continuously thermally dissociated or cracked in the manner herein described to yield amorphous carbon and a hydrogen and that in consequence, 40, invention is particularly advantageous for prooperation.

In the following description and in the claims the term dissoclable gas is to be understood as, axgeneric term including all gases or gas mixu tures (including vapours) which are capable of while the being continuously cracked as described to yield carbon and hydrogen. v

According to this invention, a stream of the dlssociable gas, at a temperature materially below that at which any undesirable reaction will 5 occur, and an enveloping concurrent stream of the gas inlet, the enveloping stream of insulating gas persists around the stream of dissociable stream adjacent the inlet does not become heated to a temperature at which the molecular structure of the gas is altered with yield of products 20 pressure of the dissociable gas, so as to produce a' quiet, or essentially stream line, slowly descending. stream. Under proper conditions the dissociable gas dissociates so quietly that the car- 35 bon appears in flocculent masses. The outlet of the apparatus is preferably vertically beneath may be any suitable gas. such as air, carbon dioxide, nitrogcn or any other gas or vapour which will have the dwired insulating efl'ect and which 55 purp ses portion of the 'of air necessary for be more than will oxidize from of one percent air will sufl'ice for insulating purposes,

will not be undesirably affected by the high temperatures or produce undesirable products in the reaction either of itself or by reaction with the dissociable gas or its dissociation products. The insulating gas preferably used is air and the amount thereof normally required for insulating is so little that only a very small prodissociable gas will be oxidized; In the case of dissociating acetylene, the amount insulating purposes need not to 1% of the acetylene, but a larger percentage may be used at the expense of a reduced yield of carbon black. In the dissociation of other dissociable gases, similarly small proportions of but where. the gas or gas mixture'is so slightly endothermic that the heat released on dissociation will not maintain the temperature of reaction, or where the gas is exothermic, the amount of air or other oxidizing gas may be'increased beyond that necessary to constitute the insulating stream so as to provide, by partial combustion of the dissociable gas, the additional heat necessary to maintain the reaction. It will be understood, however, that even when some oxidation is necessary to maintain the reaction temperature the insulating gas need not be of oxidizing character.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one form of apparatus suitable for carrying out the process, but it will be understood that the process is in no way limited to the use of the depicted apparatus.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the appa ratus.

Fig. 2 is a plan view.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the burner" on a larger scale than Figure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, ll designates a retort having a lining preferably of flre brick or other suitable refractory. This retort is preferably cylindrical, of dimensions suitable to the volume and velocity of the gas stream to be dealt with. The retort is vertically disposed and closed at its upper end by a removable top 12 which preferably retains position merely by action of gravity, a grouting being used to make the joint air tight; The lower end of the retort is open but is preferably reduced slightly in diameter, as at If, to concentrate escaping hydrogen and minimize possibility of air entering. Preferably, a series of these retorts are arranged in rows or batteries.

A large flue ll extends from front to back of each retort and in communication with the open bottom thereof. These flues ll are preferably open at the front I! for entrance of air and for observation and communicate at their rear ends through collecting means with an upwardly extending stack I. The collecting means may be a series of chambers l1, one for each retort and uniting at the bottom to form a trough exblack to fall into the trough l1. Instead of the collecting chambers a bag fllter apparatus may be used.

At the upper end of the retort a burner, desig-" nated 2| in Figure l, is supported by the cover i2 in preferably axial alignment with the retort. the cover being apertured for passage of the burner and an air-tight joint preferably made.

Thus the walk of the cylindrical chamber II are substantiallyparallel to the surfaces of the gas and air that flow from the burner. This burner, shown in detail in Figure 3, comprises a central and readily removed tube or passage for the dissociable gas, a concentric enveloping tube 24 to provide an annular passage for insulating gas, and a cooling jacket 25 surrounding the tube 24. The lower ends of the tubes 23 and 24 and of the Jacket 25 preferably terminate at about the, same level but this may be departed from, for example by terminating the tube 22 slightly above the end of the tube 24. as illustrated. The lower end of the tube 23 is preferably sharpened externally or internally or both to a knife-edge 28 which brings the edges to within less than sub? stantially V inch of each other, to present the minimum of end surface for adherence of liquid or solid matter. The lower portions of the tubes 22 and 24 may be cylindrically or otherwise formed as desired and maintained in concentric relation by spaced lugs or other suitable means. The burner is supported from the cover by a flange 21 or other suitable means. Valved supply pipes 20 and 29 lead to the tubes 23 and 24 respectively and a supply pipe 20 for cooling agent, preferably water, leads to a point near the bottom of the jacket, while a discharge pipe 3| for cooling agent leads from the top of the jacket.

To start the apparatus in operation (using air as an insulating gas), the retort is heated to a dull red heat, or any higher temperature that may be necessary, preferably by admitting dissociable gas and air to the burner in proper proportions for complete combustion and igniting. the mixture so that the burner serves as a. torch, but a special torch or other means may be used. when the proper heat is attained, the air is cut off or the supply diminished and the dissociable gas supply suitably regulated. Dissociation commences and large flakes of flocculent amorphous carbon immediately appear falling from the open bottom of the retort. The continuous input of gas serves to expel the produced hydrogen through the outlet II. If the eiiluent hydrogen does not ignite of itself on meeting air it is immediately ignited at the bottom of the retort and burns quietly. The flame of burning hydrogen forms a seal at the bottom of the retort to exclude'air which might form explosive mixtures with hydrogen or with uncracked dissociable gas in the retort. The fact that the hydrogen is burned precludes possibility of it forming explosive mixtures with air in the collecting chambers or elsewhere.' The draft of the stack draws the flame rearwardly while the open front of the conduit admits air and prevents the draft evacuating gas in the retort and also enables inspection to ascertain that the retort is working eiflciently and that hydrogen is burning. This rearwardly moving flame carries the larger part of the black with it into the collecting chamber a. that the black falls into the trough. The bailies 22 serve to facilitate this separation of solid and gas. The large masses of black, which are too heavy for the light draft to carry, also any grit from the retort l c angeswall or any coke-dike matter, fall into the receptacle 20. Admission of air may be resulated in any suitable way, asby returning. a part of the stack gases to the front ends or the fines.

. All the escaping carbon black passes through the hydrogen flame with the result that oily or other combustible compounds are wholly. or largely burned out. At most, only small loss of black results from. this owing to the vtact that the temperature i'susually belowthat required for com: bustion ofelemental carbon in air.

v The following examples. are further explanay of the process but it will be understood the to thedissociable gases other dissociable gasesand other insulating gases I for dissociation of the mentioned.

Example I Proceeding as already'described, acetylene gas is discharged lnto the retort at a pressure slightly above atmospheric and air at slightly lower super-atmosphericpressure is'used as an insulating gas, the amount of air being that which will oxidize between one-tenth of one percent and one percent of the acetylene. The acetylene and air are preferably precooled to somewhat below ordinary atmospheric temperature. The results obtained are as previously described.

Example I! The process is carried out as inExample I, except that carbon dioxide or nitrogen is used as an insulating gas in place of air, the rate of supply (in terms of volume unit per time unit) being approximately the same as for the air.

Example III The process is carried out as in Examples I or II substituting for acetylene, a mixture of acetylene and natural gas of high methane content in proportions of approximately one volume of acetylene to two volumes of natural gas. The acetylene supplies, on dissociation, the heat necessary for dissociation of the natural gas.

Example IV Example V The process is carried out as in either 01' Ex- I amples III or IV, with the exception the amount of acetylene is reduced to .such extent that the heat liberated by its dissociation isnot sufllcient admixed gas. The deficiency is made up by admitting a suflicient amount of an oxidizing gas so that the heat liberated by combustion of a part of the dissociable gas will supply the heat necessary for continuance of the dissociation.

i At the top of the retort water or other cooling agent is flowingthrough the burner jacket and keeps the air or other insulating gas flowing through the pipe 24 cool and this in turn keeps the incoming dissociable gas below its dissoclation temperature until it enters the retort. The

-ly, as can be seen from below, to

and coke formation, the gases being cooled pref;-

erably to below ordinary atmospheric temperature but when using dissociable gases less readily polymerizable than acetylene the temperature of the gases may be higher. With proper regulation, sociable gas takes place quietly, with production of carbon in, large flocculent masses, presumably in the upper part of the retort. If the pressure and therefore the velocity of the dissociable gas is too great, the 'stream lineor non-turbulent character of flow naturally is altered to turbulent flow and the gas apparently becomes diluted with hydrogen before dissociation, producing small particles of carbon black instead of large masses, which small particles are diificult to separate from the products of combustion. Also, polymerization and coke formation may result. Excess supply of dissociable gas or'excessive velocity only slightly above atmospheric but a considerable variation is possible for the pressures of both the dissociable gas and the insulating gas.

The process and apparatus are particularly safe to use. When starting a retort the heating flame burns or drives out all air in the retort and the dissociation can be started by merely reducing the air supply and without giving opportunity for air to enter at the bottom. By reason of, the flame of burning hydrogen at the bottom of the retort, air is positively excluded therefrom and by reason of burning the hydrogen it is not necessary to chamber to avoid explosive air-hydrogen mixtures therein. If gas in a retort should explode for any reason, the explosion has free vent at the open bottom of the retort and opening l9, so that it does not blow into the collecting apparatus. If the explosion should be considerable, the top of the retort will lift and give further vent so that the walls of the retort will not be disrupted.

The process is for all practical purposes continuous. With a properly proportioned retort and proper regulation of the dissociable gas and insulating gas supply to and fill the retort. It

is necessary, however, to inspect the burner .if it is not functioning properremove any carbon which may have accumulated.

The feature of insulating the dissociable gas against heating in close proximity to the inlet is 01' great importance to the maintenance of continuous and satisfactory operation. For example, when using an enveloping stream of air in conjunction with an enveloped stream "of acetylene,

dissociation of the dis-' have an air-tight collection" through the flue mass builds up aro it is found that the operation can continue for days or even weeks but that when the enveloping stream of air is ontinued, a hard coke-lik d the acetylene inlet and in a few minutes accumulates to such an extent that the inlet is seriously obstructed and the velocity of the acetylenestream thereby undesirably increased. The same freedom from obstruction at the acetylene inlet is experienced if other suitable gases aresubstituted for air in the enveloping stream and use of the enveloping stream in con- Junction with dissociable gases other than acetylene will give similar freedom from undesirable deposits at the gas inlet. when the dissociable gas and insulating gas enter the retort'at sufflciently low pressure and velocity, a considerable portion of the producedcarbon black appears in large masses the velocityof the gases is too'high, the carbon black appears in very flnely divided form in suspension in the hydrogen, resembling smoke, and is extremely diflicult to separate from the hydrogen or its combustion products. Solid accumulati'ons at the gas inlet which reduce the size of the inlet will obviously cause an increase in the velocity of the entering gas and in turn cause the carbon to appear in the aforesaid finely divided and diflicultly recoverable form. From the that may be formed .highly flocculent black produced foregoing, it will be seen that the quality and the ease and extent of recovery of the solid product depend to a large extent upon use of an envelope of insulating gas around the stream of dissociable gas adjacent the inlet. Furthermore,

the insulating gas serves to maintain the input of dissociable gas such that the amount of produced hydrogen is sufficient to maintain a sealing flame of effective size at the bottom outlet. If the gas input is diminished, by carbon accumulation at the inlet, materially below the rated capacity of the retort, the hydrogen flame is not large enough to completely seal the bottom outlet and air enters and forms explosive mixtures with the hot hydrogen or with uncracked dissociable In addition to ensuring appearance of carbon in relatively large flocculent masses, the low pressure and low velocity of the gas input are important in that the black is not swept rapidly through the retort but is allowed to gravitate slowly to the bottom outlet so that the black remains exposed to heat for a considerable period of time, with the result most of the oily matter is cracked in the retort and but little remains to be burned at the outlet. The process is operated at comparatively high temperature, for example approximately 1800 F. or over for cracking acetylene. The high temperature combined with the prolonged exposure of black thereto results in the production of carbon of unusually good quality-having the characteristics of amorphous graphite. The graphitic characteristics of black produced according to this process are higher ignition temperature, higher electric conductivity and higher heat conductivity than blacks produced from oil gas or natural gas by conventional processes. Also, the according to this process has higher absorption capacity than blacks produced by ordinary processes. The foregoing qualities are especially characteristic of carbon black produced according to this invention from acetylene. Moreover, carbon black of graphitic character produced according to this invention, particularly acetylene black, is of different physical structure from blacks otherwise which are readily collected but, if

produced, as may microscopic examination.

This application is a continuation in part of my former applications Serial Numbers 657,586 and 657,587, flied August 15th, 1923.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:- g

l. A process of making carbon black by cracking dissociable hydrocarbon gas which comprises heating a downwardly moving stream of the gas to at least its dissociation temperature whereby the dissociable gas is dissociated to yield carbon black, and burning products such as hydrogen with air at a location subadiacent to that at which cracking occurs whereby the produced black will gravitate through the hydrogen flame and be thereby cleansed.

2. A method of making carbon black which comprises passing a stream of dissociable hydrocarbon gas into the top of a chamber opening at its bottom directly to the atmosphere, for the escape of black by gravitation, heating said chamber to at least the dissociation temperature of the gas whereby the gas is dissociated to yield carbon black, preventing deposit of solid carbonaceous matter at the gas inlet by passing a stream of another gas into the chamber, said second stream enveloping the dissociable gas stream near the inlet and insulating the dissociable gas stream adjacent the inlet from the heat of the chamber whereby the dissociable gas stream is maintained for a short distance inwardly of the inlet at temperature below that at which it will form products capable of accumulating as solid c'arbonaceous matter at the inlet, and preventing entrance of air into said chamber through the bottom outlet thereof by burning products such as hydrogen at said outlet and in the path of black gr'avitating through the outlet whereby oily matter is burned out of the black, the eillux of hydrogen and consequent size of the flame being maintained adequately for sealing the outlet through maintenance of undiminished gas input by reason of preventing carbon accumulations at the gas inlet.

3. A dissociation process to produce carbon black comprising releasing a confined stream of acetylene at about atmospheric pressure into an unobstructed zone of sufficient temperature to dissociate the acetylene into carbon and hydrogenous gas, withdrawing the products of dissociation with sufficient rapidity to avoid dilution therewith of the acetylene before dissociation, the hot products being discharged into air for combustion of the hydrogenous gas, the heated carbon passing through a flame of the burning hydrogenous gas to cleanse the carbon.

4. A dissociation process to produce carbon black comprising releasing a low pressure stream of acetylene at about atmospheric temperature downwardly into an unobstructed zone at sufficient temperature to dissociate the acetylene to carbon and hydrogenous gas, withdrawing the hot products of dissociation downwardly with sufficient rapidity to avoid dilution therewith of the acetylene before dissociation, introducing the products while hot into air to burn the hydrogenous gas, and removing the carbon from the burning gas.

5. A dissociation process to produce carbon black comprising releasing a stream of acetylene at about-atmospheric pressure and temperature into an unobstructed zone at sufficient temperature to dissociate the acetylene to yield carbon and hydrogenous gas, withdrawing the hot prodbe readily demonstrated by bon and 'flame characteristic. oi hydrogen, a carbon and the flam nets with sufllcient rapidity to .avoid dilution therewith oi the acetylene before dissociation, drawing the hot products into a stream oi air, burning the hydrogen'ous gas therein, and drawing carbon and the resulting gases away from the-burning hy'drogenous g v .6. A -dissociation process to produce carbon black, comprising releasing a stream of acetylene at about atmospheric temperature and pressure downwardly into an unobstructed zone of sumcient temperature to dissociate the gas into carhydrogenous gas, withdrawing the hot products downwardly into a stream of air to burn the gas, the products being withdrawn with sumcient rapidity to burn the gas in a clear and drawing resulting gases away from the e.

' adJacent the outlet,

7. Apparatus for production of carbon black comprising a cylindrical retort, concentric tubular inlets for gas opening near one'end oi the retort, an outlet at the other end, a flue extending across the outlet and connected therewith, 'the flue being open to the atmosphere and a stack connected to the other end of the flue, carbon collecting means being interposed between the flue and the stack.

8. Apparatus for production of carbon black comprising a cylindrical retort, concentric inlet tubes for gas terminating at substantially a common level near one end of the retort, the common wall between the tubes sloping to a knife-edge, and an outlet at the other end or the retort communicating with a flue, said flue being open to -the atmosphere adjacent the outlet.

STUART A. WISDOM. 

